Amaranth
by Aurora Halsey
Summary: "Amaranth ... did not soon fade and so symbolized immortality" A Spartan, plucked from death, kept frozen in time, the propaganda rings true, Spartans never die. Could this soldier be the answer to a wandering fleet's problem. One more world to save, can this Spartan lead these lost souls home?
1. Prologue: Harvest

**A/N: Well, it's been a long time since I've done any writing, but I believe that my skills have improved enough for me to try again. I've decided to actually plan out a story this time. I'm going to follow the basic idea set out by Red in Tooth and Claw, an excellent story, by inserting a Halo character into the BSG storyline. However, I'm using an as of yet undisclosed character that as far as I know hasn't been used before in any Halo fic.**

2530

Harvest

"Don't you dare slow down!" the warthog raced across the battered bridge, chain gun spitting death in copious amounts. A pelican broke through cloud cover above, swinging round whilst descending.

"Sarge, evac's here, we've almost made it!" A plasma grenade arched through the air, landing firmly in front of the warthog, inertia carrying it, the 'hog had no way to stop in time and was flipped by the force of the explosion. From underneath, three figures dragged themselves out from underneath the mass of wreckage, the strong alloys of the vehicle protecting them from the worst of the superheated gas.

"You ok?"

"I will be, as soon as I'm off this planet"

"Come on, get to the pelican, I'll cover you"

The trio ran for all their worth, leaping over debris and craters, the welcoming form of the drop ship growing bigger with each step, forty metres, thirty metres. The imposing silhouette of a sanghelli rose from behind a partly demolished wall, needler in hand, it fired. The glowing purple projectile leap forwards, propelled by the ancient technology, lancing forward, through air, dust, flesh. The third figure fell backwards, a shard protruding from its chest, penetrating through armour; the shields already pushed past their limit by enemy fire and the fateful grenade.

"Chief!" a flurry of activity as the marines from the warthog and the pelican released streams of lead, cutting down the nearest covenant forces with a vengeance. They surged forward, intent on rescuing their downed comrade. Wounded, maybe mortally so, but Spartans were made of sterner stuff than to be taken out by a single shot, it rolled over, M6D magnum in hand, firing accurate shot after shot, taking out target after target.

"Go, leave me!" the Spartan yelled to its comrades, watching as the pelican took shot after shot from fuel rod cannons, it's armour degrading and being melted away with increasing speed, it wouldn't be long before the plating failed and the hull was exposed to the destructive forces being thrown against it. The Spartan kept firing till its pistol clicked empty, its magazine expended. Helplessly, it watched as a sanghelli fired; the streak of fluorescent green streaking towards one of the engine pods. The armour, charred beyond any use whatsoever, gave way with no resistance; the explosion destroyed the engine, igniting the fuel lines. The pelican exploded fragments of metal landing all over.

"No" whispered the Spartan, finally succumbing to the injuries that would have killed a normal human, rolled onto her back, taking one last look at the starry skies, polluted by the ash from a burnt world. Slowly, resigned, its eyes closed, fading into unconsciousness.

"My installation, destroyed in this conflict, what now, what now?"

A silver orb with a glowing blue 'eye' hovered over the devastation, strangely detached from the suffering and bloodshed that had baptised the land mere hours before, floating over the Spartans body, still talking and humming to itself.

"Oh, how surprising, it appears this Reclaimer still lives, quite remarkable given the injuries received. Especially given this combat skin only qualifies as a class six or less. Well, I suppose I should do what I can, the mass transit system is still operational, there is a suitable facility."

The Spartan's body was encased in an energy field, putting it into temporary stasis, as the Monitor drifted away, the Spartan being dragged along. Soon, Monitor and Spartan entered a cave, continuing inwards and deeper as the rock gradually stopped covering the walls till the tunnel was composed entirely of a reflective grey metal covered in angular designs. A doorway at the end opened to allow the Monitor passage into the Forerunner facility. A frame rose from the ground, projecting an energy field inside till eventually a miniscule slipspace portal materialised between the two sides of the frame. Unlike the thunderous ripping of space-time that occurred when human Shaw-Fujikawa drives opened rifts in the fabric of existence, the portal was gentle, held open, still and tranquil, made so by the finesse and mastery of slipspace that the Forerunners possessed.

Both the Monitor and Spartan entered the portal, and Harvest was finally evacuated.

"I cannot return this Reclaimer to her people, it is outside of my parameters, still, I can preserve her life, heal and repair her, put her into stasis till the mantle is taken up by the Reclaimers. Yes, that is what I shall do"

With its mind made up, the Spartan was levitated into a waiting stasis pod, the door closing over the red MJOLNIR and the still flawless golden visor. The fusion reactor in the advanced power armour shut down, the HUD powering down as the Forerunner technology froze the super soldier in time. Like the Arthurian legend, the mortally wounded warrior, put to sleep, to awaken when needed again. Its task complete, the Monitor floated away, returning through the slipspace portal, to repair his installation and continue his vigil. The lights turned off; the room once again fell into darkness, its brief stint of life after a hundred thousand years of inactivity ending as quickly as it had started.

**A/N: First chapter complete, pretty short at only 854 words, but, I'm happy with it. I think I've maintained ambiguity as to the characters identity. Please say who you think it is. As for those who know, I've made minor alterations to the original scene and I've changed the armour from Mk IV to Mk V in order to get shields since I'd prefer my protagonist to be a little more durable.**

**Please review and tell me what you think, I'm still not sure if I should continue this story, if I don't this little chapter functions as a one-shot.**


	2. Food, behind a nebula

**A/N: It's been great to receive so many favourites, follows and reviews within minutes of uploading, it's really encouraging, which is why I'm writing chapter two. Well done to those who worked out who the protagonist was (the front cover has a pretty massive hint on her collar). I have also been reminded that she does feature in at least one other fanfic.**

Battlestar Galactica

Unknown location

The CIC of the Battlestar Galactica was, as always, a hub of activity, officers scurrying about to deliver reports and complete the tasks that kept the behemoth running. A price that must be paid with the complete lack of networked systems, one that was happily paid given Galactica was the only survivor out of a whole navy, especially since her companion, the more advanced Mercury class Battlestar Pegasus was destroyed during the escape from New Caprica. Proving the saying 'Trust in the Rust' true, especially against an enemy that can turn your technology against you.

Ever vigilant for signs of Cylon attack, the extensive DRADIS arrays mounted on the battlestar quickly detected the distinctive energy signature given off by a ship jumping and pinpointed the source; a small jump drive, perhaps a raider, flashing into existence several kilometres off from the fleet.

"DRADIS contact, strike craft sized, eight kilometres off" Lieutenant Gaeta called from his station.

"Set condition two throughout the ship" Admiral Adama called from his place by the central table, paranoia being worth more than the trouble it caused. Tensions were high, morale was low, the lack of food putting every on edge.

"IDC received, it's a friendly" relief was almost audible, "its Athena" Gaeta called out, sharing in the relief that the fleet wasn't under attack. However, the wait was not over, would Lieutenant Agathon bring news of salvation or starvation.

"Athena, this is Galactica Actual, you're three hours overdue, report" Adama asked, always professional, his own shield against the stress of leading the Colonial Remnant.

"Athena to Actual, the planet is suitable" this time, the relief was audible, starvation averted, for now "but the planet is surrounded by a nebula, heavily irradiated, I barely made it through."

That certainly put a dampener on the generally positive mood that filled the CIC, but not enough to totally neutralise the fact that they weren't going to starve, as long as they could make it through the nebula, it was still a chance though.

"Confirmed Athena, you're cleared for landing in the starboard hanger bay, report to Doctor Cottle after you land" Adama replied, hopefully Cottle will declare no permanent negative effects, and that the fleet can make it through.

Adama met with his senior officers and the president, Laura Roslin looking less and less composed as the constant pressure, cancer and drugs took their toll. Colonel Tigh, looking, in contrast to Roslin, composed and firm, was also present; his time on New Caprica appearing to have steeled him rather than broken him, despite the loss of an eye.

"The report from Cottle isn't good, Athena's radiation badge was entirely black, if not for her enhanced physiology, she'd be suffering a slow death of radiation poisoning by now. We can't get the fleet through, we'd have to make two jumps to get through, the radiation makes navigation a lot harder and with the thickness of some of the civilian ships hulls, there'll be far less people to feed assuming we do get through" Tigh gave what could be one of the most pessimistic reports possible, basically saying, 'We can't do this'. The report wasn't really exaggerating though; the situation was quite a bit worse than bad.

The scene in Adama's cabin was like a court, the judge, Adama, situated on one side of the table, and on the opposite side, to his left and right, were Roslin and Tigh, respectively; each side arguing their case.

"Admiral, people are starving, rationing is already at its lowest possible levels, we can't keep this up without civil unrest and rioting, the government and any sense of order might fall and this fleet could tear itself apart without food. We need food, soon, and this planet is the only way that we've found to get some." The President presented her case, not entirely necessary since Adama was insistent on deferring to the civilian government, led by Laura Roslin, she could order him to proceed. However, she too used the Admiral as a valuable advisor and it was his judgement that had kept the last few tens of thousands of colonials alive.

Making his decision, Adama spoke, "We don't have much of a choice, it will be hell getting this fleet through, but slowly starving to death is an even worse option. We can move some of the civilians from the lighter ships to the Galactica; we have the armour to maintain relatively low levels of radiation inside. We'll send over temporary crews with anti-radiation meds to fly them through. I'm not going to deploy marines to keep order though. The military fights the enemy, when used against the people, the people tend to become the enemy. Madame President, please try and maintain order for another few days, until we can plot a course through the nebula and get our crews organised. Saul, tell Chief Tyrol to round up some crews for the ships we'll need to evacuate, full radiation suits and have Cottle supply them with anti-radiation meds"

The group disbanded, moving off to complete their given tasks and prepare themselves for the ordeal to come. Tigh heading to engineering to talk to Tyrol, hoping that things would go smoothly for once, Roslin heading back to Colonial One, pondering what she would have to promise the people, to keep them calm and organised at least for a short while.

Meanwhile, in the pilots' quarters, Lee Adama, Kara Thrace and Sharon Agathon discussed their situation; it was dire not just for the civilians, they were sharing what little food that still had, rationing every last bit out, barely enough to last half a week.

"What was it like out there?" Major Adama asked, knowing full well from Sharon's pitch black radiation patch that it was going to be rough.

Starbuck however, was much blunter, "What kinda shit are we going to be flying through? You're not radioactive toast yet, so I'll take my chances"

"The nebula almost entirely disrupts DRADIS, we'll be flying blind, and visuals aren't much use either, given how much gas is floating out there. The raptors don't have sufficient insulation for humans to fly through without being 'radioactive toast' but Galactica and the bigger civilian ships should be fine, relatively fine" Sharon explained, trying to make the journey sound a little less impossible, but only managing to go so far without totally distorting the facts. Of course Starbuck puts light to any situation, seemingly no matter how dark.

"Well, that sounds bad, I would offer you all ambrosia, but we ran out days ago and the chief has no moonshine left, I wonder if you can ferment algae."

**AN: Ok, chapter two complete. I might not update for about a week since I have exams, however, after that, I should have a bit more time to write. My technical knowledge of BSG is pretty good, but I know very little about the storyline and characters, since I only made it to season two, so please point out any mistakes, baring dialogue changes . A question for all of you, would you prefer small chapters (around 1k words) and uploaded every few days, or longer chapters, uploaded every couple of weeks roughly? Thanks again for reading and reviewing, really encouraging.**


	3. Status Update 1

Well, sorry to disappoint, but this isn't a new chapter. I said a while ago that I would update after exams. However, I'm now abroad and have only just realised that my laptop, after undergoing a system recovery to rid itself of a very persistent virus, no longer has Microsoft Word or any of the previous chapters on it. As such, there's going to be a significant delay till the next chapter. I'm also reviewing current story direction. Sorry for the delay. This story is not forgotten, not yet anyway.


	4. Waking up

**A/N: Well, I'm back in England now and have the time and software to write a bit. I've decided to write larger chapters. When I preview it, it looks a bit pathetic to barely be able to scroll down the webpage. Anyway, this story has almost no overall plan. So feel free (please help me) to send in suggestions for story arcs.**

Amaranth: Chapter 3

With the decision made, the fleet prepared to navigate its way through the nebula, despite the difficulties caused by the high levels of ambient radiation. Much to the chagrin of Tigh and some of the more traditional officers, the lives of what could be the last vestment of humanity were in the hands of Lieutenant Sharon Agathon; the turncoat Cylon and primary source of intelligence of possible enemy movements. Being genetically engineered and built certainly had its advantages. One of which being a slightly higher radiation threshold. As such, the duty of flying a relatively lightly shielded raptor ahead of the fleet and guiding it past larger clouds of radiation and calculating jump coordinates along the way fell unto the lieutenant.

"Athena to Galactica Actual, ready for jump, coordinates locked in and drive is hot."

"Galactica Actual to Athena, you are cleared for jump… Good luck out there"

"Affirmative, jumping in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 jump!"

In the characteristic flash of light that accompanied the folding of space and instantaneous transportation of the craft that this branch of humanity had developed for faster-than-light travel, the raptor disappeared and reappeared a few light years away from where it had existed a mere split-second earlier.

Shortly after, the entire fleet of rag-tag vessels and the behemoth of armour, and the will-power that held it together, that was Galactica made the same jump. Streaks of light flashing by as each ship engaged their drives and stretched forward before disappearing all together and lancing out into the unknown. To the uninformed observer, it may well have looked like a catastrophe, FTL bursts looking not much different from explosions, followed by a ship disappearing. The lack of debris and any aggressor would soon disprove such a theory however.

Quickly recovering from the disorientation and dizziness that follows every jump, Athena quickly checked the extensive sensors of the electronic support craft and cross referenced it to the roster of ships tagged on to the dashboard. Almost every ship had made the jump and arrived safely, if this nebula could be called safe. Checking her radiation patch, she saw that it was slowly fading to black.

"Athena to Galactica, all of the ships are accounted for. Wait, no, Adriatic is missing. Athena to Hot Dog, do you have a visual on Adriatic?"

"Negative Athena, there's too much radiation, sensors are inoperable and I can't see Adriatic"

"We can't wait here; keep searching but jump before you take too high a radiation dose."

"Galactica Actual to Athena, try to make it quick, radiation levels are higher than expected and some smaller ships won't be able to hold this for long."

The radiation led to a good amount of interference on the communication channel, the advanced systems of the raptor worked to filter it out and the huge capital ships sized arrays of Galactica blasted out the message, pushing through the radiation and delivering the message in an understandable fashion. Working diligently, Athena quickly calculated the jump coordinates, checking once, then twice. Finally sure of their validity, she broadcasted the coordinates to her ship. Bracing herself, she executed the jump. The other pilot raptors lead their own charges through the second jump

Another series of flashes swept up the fleet, already losing formation in the opaque hell of the nebula. The departing craft left small areas absent of gas, displaced by their arrival, but soon all was reclaimed by the nebula.

Arriving at the next jump point, the ships drifted even further apart. The small, skeleton crews not quite incapacitated but certainly affected by the radiation their bodies were resisting, even with the added protection of radiation suits and large doses of anti-radiation medication.

Athena however could not afford to let her concentration slip for a second as a whole ship was counting on her. The Admiral had trusted her, given her a place in the Colonial Fleet, placed this responsibility upon her and she would not let him down. Looking down, she could see her radiation patch was now more black than white and she grabbed a syringe of anti-radiation meds and jammed it into her leg. Reaching back to the sensors, checking the fleet roster, Carina was missing; two ships gone now, ships and crews that couldn't be replaced.

In addition to the cumulative effects of the radiation being deeply detrimental to the crews and pilots of the fleet's ships and the pilot raptors, the mounting heat was causing damage to the armour of Galactica and doing even worse damage to the hulls of civilian ships, which didn't have armour designed to hold against nuclear strikes and the raging infernos created in such attacks.

The pilot raptors soon calculated the final coordinates. Once they had transmitted the information to their respective ships, the fleet made the last jump and arrived in a burst of radiation and light above a planet. Clear space surrounding them, devoid of the deadly radiation that had been assailing them seconds before. Relief, mixed with sadness for the two ships lost, flooded the fleet. No time was wasted as the fleet settled into orbit and Galactica began launching raptors carrying personnel and equipment to begin the harvest of the life-saving algae.

Far away, on Heian, a small floating artificial intelligence surveyed the scene of a battle. Two combatants laid dead on the cliff edge. One, a Jiralhanae, a lesser species that had little potential for evolution and was prone to violent tendencies, the other, a human female, a more evolved species that was ancient beyond their own knowledge and was likely one of the most versatile species to have evolved, both times.

"Oh dear, severe loss of combat skin structural integrity and heavy concussion to the skull, internal bleeding and subject is dead. Still recent, repair and reanimation possible, such an action is permissible by protocol. There is no sense in letting more life go to waste, especially such a fine piece of genetic and surgical engineering. Utilising mass transit system, portal successfully established, excellent. I will take this one to the same facility as the other. Her injuries are extensive, but my medical abilities are as extensive. Damage repaired, flesh regenerated, restarting heart and stimulating neural network. Brain activity re-established. Repairing combat skin, reconstructing metallic crystalline fluid layer; crude, but for the technology of the time, ever so ingenious, they always were gifted with ingenuity, probably how they lasted so long against our superior forces. That was so long ago, our mistake, their fate, our fall, their vengeance, our redemption, their reclamation."

"How goes the harvest?" Asked Admiral Adama, standing in a tent in the small camp that had been set up to provide a base of operations for the many teams that were scouting out the terrain and collecting algae.

"Well enough, we have reports of plentiful amounts, enough to fully replenish our stores. The algae certainly doesn't look appetising but according to Doctor Cottle, it has enough protein to keep us going for quite a while." Replied Major Adama, once more stationed aboard Galactica after the loss of the Battlestar Pegasus.

"Good, the civilians will grumble, when do they ever stop, but I'm sure they'll find it preferable to starvation." Adama said, any further discussion was cut off as Chief Galen Tyrol burst into the conversation.

"Sir, some of the exploration teams have found something that you'll probably want to see."

"What is it?" Adama inquired.

"We're not sure, it's some kind of structure built into a mountain. I've never seen architecture like it and it definitely doesn't look human or cylon. It's all angular and made of a greyish metal that has proven resistant to anything we can throw at it. We think we've found a doorway into it, but we need your authorisation before we continue, sir" Chief Tyrol explained.

"Lead the way chief, don't do anything till we get there" Adama ordered.

After a short drive in one of the Light Recon Vehicles carried as part of Galactica's marine and ground force compliment, both Admiral and Major Adama, along with Chief Tyrol arrived at the unknown structure. It truly was a remarkable construct. Built into the mountain, it reached up to the skies, covered in patterns etched into the mysterious material. Galen led the two ranking officers to a small almost unnoticeable scorch mark which marred the otherwise perfect surface of the wall.

"This is the result of a high explosive, armour piercing round from my pistol. I'd love to know what this stuff is made of, that round would go clean through a centurion's armour but didn't even dent this. If we can find a way to cut it away, we could attach it to body armour, vipers and raptors, maybe even fill in the gaps in Galactica's armour belt, it's multiple times better than what we've got for plating right now. Its weight is as of yet unknown though. Here's the doorway, some marines could be called in, or we could go in ourselves, we just need your go ahead"

"We'll call marines; I don't want to take any chances. Good find Chief, I hope we find something worthwhile out of all this" Adama ordered.

Darkness; was this what death was like? Daisy wasn't religious, but had always hoped that there would be something waiting for her when she inevitably died in service of the UNSC. She remembered the battle on Harvest, the pelican trying to take off, being destroyed, Ralph. Ralph! He had been there, a Spartan-II washout, a friend a fellow run-away. He'd been on that pelican when it had blown up, just another dead soldier now.

"Ancillary Reclaimers detected, removing stored Reclaimers from stasis."

Wait, she wasn't dead, she could feel the tingly sensation as her body returned to life, cryo-stasis? No, that was always rougher, and she'd be experiencing freezer burn and hacking up hydrating fluid if so. Light, blurry at first, indistinct shapes, but growing rapidly clearer as augmented eyes quickly recovered and refocused. She was in a room, odd architecture, not UNSC, but even further from the purple organic designs of the Covenant. She was in a pod, similar but different from UNSC cryo-pods, there were no cryogenic gases floating around for one. Looking around, she saw something very familiar. Another Spartan, clad in green MJOLNIR armour, the iconic dress of heroes, immortals, or so the public liked to think, encouraged by the Office of Naval Intelligence. The other Spartan wasn't awake yet, and Daisy wasn't going to wake them from what little respite a Spartan can get from the constant war, be it against insurrectionists or genocidal aliens. Only now did she realise that her bear, the small toy that she had carried through life, even before her conscription, was clutched in her hands. It hadn't been before; someone must have put it there. She also realised that her Heads-Up-Display and helmet was on, something else that hadn't been on when she had 'died'. Nevertheless, she was grateful that both pieces were with her, one vital to her armour's integrity and the other vital to her integrity. Seeing her shotgun and MA5B laying conveniently in a rack by the side of the pod she woke up in, she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Armed with her training, her armour and her weapons, Daisy began to explore the strange place in which she woke up.

**A/N: Well, that's chapter 3 done. I already have chapter 4 planned out, nothing beyond that though. I felt that I needed someone else from Halo to be a companion to Daisy. Chief has Cortana, so why can't Daisy have some help? I contemplated using a monitor, and had a little fun thinking of having a Sentinel pet. However, I felt that with such an obvious AI, the colonials would be a little too likely to at best, not trust the Halo characters at all, or at worst, "Look! AI! KILL IT WITH FIRE!" So in the end I settled on using a Spartan. Similar to when I introduced Daisy. Guess who! I've given you one hint in this chapter, which is enough to pinpoint the character exactly, assuming you can find it. Please review, constructive criticism is welcome; I could really use the help. Like I said earlier, please send me any ideas you have for this story.**


	5. Chapter 4 - First Contact, sort of

**A/N: I believe that I may have a storyline worked out, it's kind of vague at the moment but I think I can flesh it out a bit. I've come to the realisation that I really don't know enough of the Battlestar Galactica storyline and characters to emulate it effectively. I find myself having to read BSG wiki entries for ages with each chapter to ensure that I don't contradict anything. Therefore, I'm going to give up trying to get each character's personality right and just go with what I think feels right in the story context. Also, I've read up on Forerunner combat skins, and the comment made by the monitor in Chapter 1 was a mistake. MJOLNIR Mk V is only on tier with a class 2 combat skin, not class 6 as I said earlier. However, you could say that the monitor didn't do in-depth scans and at first glance decided that the suit couldn't be higher than class 6 at most.**

**Twihard1990 managed to get the name of the second Spartan right. I'm quite impressed really, I only gave the name of the planet (Heian) and the two combatants involved. I think I'll leave the rest of you in suspense for now, but if you really want to know, you can look for the review.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – First Contact, sort of**

**Daisy-023 – Forerunner Facility**

The walls were made of a greyish, silvery metal and the entire facility was spotless. Daisy made her way onwards, her MA5C was drawn, loaded and with safety off, but not held ready, with no apparent hostiles, the action would be pointless. The place appeared to be deserted, her motion sensor picked up nothing and silence permeated the area, only disrupted by her heavy armour-clad footsteps. She'd left a navigational marker where she woke, up next to the other Spartan, her route was saved onto her suit's computers and backtracking would be easy. The endless emptiness was incredibly unsettling. Daisy had never really been alone for years. Either surrounded by awed UNSC personnel, with other Spartans or fighting Covenant. She'd always been within UNSC communication range at the very least. She wasn't scared though, Spartans didn't get scared, just cautious.

A quiet humming sound, benign and easily unnoticeable appeared from further ahead. Whilst most would disregard as being part of the atmosphere of a place, a background buzz, not Daisy. Amplified by MJOLNIRs sensors and clear in her ears, she dove backwards to the last intersection and took cover behind the corner. As the noise grew closer, she activated the camera mounted on the end of her gun and held it, pointing around the corner, giving her a view of the situation whilst remaining safe. After a couple of seconds, a small drone made its way across the next intersection. There was a central section, with four other parts connected to it; two wing-like sections, a 'head' that housed a blue light, and an under slung section with a yellow glow. Oddly enough, there were no visible thrusters or propellers providing the lift that would be required for it to hover. Since her exploration of the facility had yielded nothing but empty corridors connecting to more empty corridors. Daisy appreciated this disruption in the monotony.

Keeping a distance of around fifteen meters and sneaking as quietly as one can in half a ton of armour, Daisy followed the mysterious floating machine. After ten minutes of painstakingly slow pursuit, she arrived at a room. Of course there had been other rooms, but they had been small, sometimes entirely empty and only had small illegible computers or some furniture. This room was a nexus of activity, with dozens of the drones floating to and fro, some looking to be merely milling around whilst others, if a machine could look focused, were working intently at various computer terminals. Amongst all of these, there was one terminal that stood out from the rest. In the centre of the room and at ground level, there was a floating holographic ball.

Taking slow, deliberate steps towards it; Daisy moved closer, receiving no resistance from the machine caretakers, in fact they didn't even react to her presence. As she neared the sphere, she could see that it was made of hundreds of small segments, each with a glyph on them. Once she was almost next to it, something deep inside stirred, an urge, a sudden feeling. Acting on impulse, she reached out and held her hand onto the ball. Underneath her glove, the ball rotated and changed rapidly, until each finger was below a certain glyph. Daisy pressed down, at once, a blow light swept up and down her. Inside the computer, processes and protocols set thousands of years ago leapt into action and determined that the being standing in front of it was a human, bipedal, sentient, average strength and a surprisingly high level of ingenuity and intelligence, more importantly however, the being was a Reclaimer! At this revelation, which took mere nanoseconds for the ancient, advanced computer to work out and spread across the network, every sentinel in the room stopped and pivoted around, looking directly at Daisy.

Momentarily stunned by her being the sudden centre of attention, Daisy quickly reacted and threw herself behind a nearby console and drew her MA5C. Against her expectations, her position wasn't suddenly bombarded by all manner of weaponry. Once again using her gun camera, she peeked over her rudimentary cover and saw that all the drones were just hovering there, waiting expectantly. Next, she held her hand up, ready to withdraw it at the first sign of trouble. Cautiously, she stood up, hoping her shields would be able to last long enough for her to return to cover if they suddenly started firing at her, although they appeared to have no visible weapon mounts, one would not think that covenant plasma rifles, lacking a barrel, stock, magazine or any other recognisable weapon parts, were actually weapons, until they burned through your armour and killed you that is. She was just emerging from cover when a loud sound made her return to it. The voice, swept through several languages she did not understand before finally settling on English.

"Is this language understandable to you?" The voice asked

Daisy was unsure of what to do, before tentatively answering "Yes"

"Good. Welcome to Shield World Gateway Facility #27 of the Forerunner Eucumene, how may I assist you?" The voice, sounding quite high pitched and cheerful, but clearly male asked.

Still unsure of what to do, Daisy asked the most prominent question she could think of, "Uh, where am I?"

"I have told you, you are in Shield World Gateway Facility #27, to the galactic north east of Erde-Tyrene. Your confusion is understandable, according to the monitor that delivered you here, you were seriously injured in battle, you were healed and placed in stasis"

"Stasis? How long?"

"Oh, not long at all, only 28 stellar rotations of your home planet, Erde-Tyrene" The voice replied, not registering the shock in Daisy's voice.

"28 years, I wonder if Earth is still there, wait, Erde-Tyrene?"

"Whilst I am unable to tell you if your 'Earth' is 'still there', since my sensor coverage does not extend beyond a few light years of this facility, I can suggest that 'Earth' would still be in existence as the force required to totally destroy the planet or deorbit it would be incredibly significant and no nearby stars should enter the super nova stage for at least another billion years by earliest estimates. Erde-Tyrene is your homeworld. Ah, I see the source of the confusion, a quick check in your combat skin's computer systems confirms that your Earth and Erde-Tyrene are one and the same. The planet is in a different location but after accounting for stellar drift, they are the same planet."

"You can hack my armour's systems? The location of Earth is classified information! Even smart AIs would take at least a few minutes to break through the encryptions and firewalls!" Daisy was shocked at the sudden breach of the Cole protocol, thousands, maybe millions had died to try and keep Earth's location safe, only for a computer to pluck it out from her armour with almost no effort at all.

"Ah, yes, I encountered your computer defences, they are severely subpar by Forerunner standards, your combat skin is little more than a surprisingly well armed and combat orientated environmental suit, barely above a class 2, maybe a class 3. You would probably be interested to know that there is a sizeable fleet of ships in orbit of the planet, there are several thousand human life signs aboard. There are also landing craft on the surface with several hundred humans."

"Humans, here?"

* * *

**Adm. Adama – Surface of Algae Planet**

"Admiral, the marines are ready, as soon as we got close to try and plant some high grade explosives, the door just opened for us, good thing too since I don't think we could have gotten through that with anything less than a tactical nuke."

"Ok, see what's inside, weapons ready but don't fire unless fired upon."

With that, several black clad marines made their way through the doorway, flashlights illuminating the darkness. Soon after entry, they found themselves in a featureless silvery-grey corridor, engraved patterns subtly littered the walls and floors. Lights flickered on, illuminating the whole area. Admiral Adama, Tyrol and some of his deck hands followed on, safely behind the wall of marines taking point. They had barely made it twenty meters in when a voice emanating from seemingly everywhere spoke to them. The marines raised rifles and formed a defensive circle around the Admiral whilst the deckhands scrambled for their side arms.

"Greetings, welcome to Shield World Gate Facility #27 of the Forerunner Eucumene, a Reclaimer has requested your presence, prepare for teleportation"

Just as the deckhands finally got ready, they, along with everyone else, were enveloped in golden light and after a slight disorientation similar to a FTL jump, which the veterans quickly recovered from, found themselves in an entirely different place than they were before. A large area, with a high ceiling and screens on seemingly every surface. Whilst the colonials were certainly bewildered, one thing they did notice though was the multitude of machines moving all over the place. Many of which were looking right at them. When one's civilization has been wiped out by artificial intelligence controlled robots, seeing a horde of robots tends to put one on edge, and for other, pushes them off the edge.

A rattle of machine gun fire broke the silence as a marine opened fire on one of the nearby sentinels. It's shields flared for a few seconds before the sustained fire broke it down and the sentinel collapsed onto the ground shortly after. Before having the chance to cause more damage, the fallen sentinel's comrades expertly disarmed the marine with a beam melting most of the rifle into unusable sludge. The marine suffered burns on his hands but was mostly un harmed. As the rest of the marines began to get ready to fire, they paused when they heard a quick "Wait!" shouted out to them.

Their first thought was 'Centurion!' before they noticed substantial differences in the design. Whilst standing at over two meters tall, the figure before them was not the Cylon they were all used to. Instead of the sleek, organic lines of a centurion, there was a black under suit, covered by several segments of thick red armour. In place of the red light swinging from side to side, there was a large golden face plate, reflecting all their images back at them. It was very much similar to the centurions from the first war, bulky and armed with a large assault rifle compared to the built in armaments of the more modern Cylons.

Admiral Adama, much to the protests of the marines, pushed forward to the front, sidearm in his hand, but held downwards. The marines were dreading any kind of hostile actions, although the Admiral was wearing body armour, they had just seen a laser liquefy a metal rifle, no doubt it could do the same to the leader of the fleet, and they would be the ones to blame.

"What are you? Where are we?" Demanded the Admiral, his voice was soft, but it held a tone of authority that few would dare question.

"Chief Petty Officer Sierra Twenty Three, United Nations Space Command. As to where we are, I don't know, the computer just tells me that we're in a facility somewhere in the galactic east." The figure answered.

* * *

**Daisy-023 – Forerunner Facility**

As soon as she asked the computer whether she could talk to the humans, the rather hyperactive AI went to work and told her she was bringing them to her as hastily as possible. Before she could correct it, a flash of golden light deposited a number of figures right in front of her. They were military, that was for sure, and they were human, but from the uniform, they didn't look like her military. The full black was a contrast to the normal marine gear, more befitting an ODST, but they were lacking the full body armour and sealed helmet for that. Add to that that she didn't recognise the badges on their shoulders, she could only come to the conclusion that these soldiers were not UNSC. The next question was, where they hostile? If so, then her MJOLNIR and their lack of cover ought to give her an advantage, in some ways that would be easier, she wouldn't have to be diplomatic.

After a few moments, one of them started firing at the sentinels, the other machines retaliated in a shocking display of fire power. Seeing each drone capable of utilising such a powerful weapon made her a little more wary of being surrounded by dozens of them. Deciding to take a chance and hope they were friendly, she called out to them and attracted their attention.

"Wait!" Daisy shouted, she was successful in preventing further violence, if only for a few seconds.

A figure, older than the other marines, emerged from their ranks, he had significantly more elaborate symbols on his collar, and unlike the other marines, wasn't wearing full black, but rather a black armoured vest over a blue uniform.

"What are you? Where are we?" The man demanded, his authoritative tone and him acting as spokesperson for the group gave more credence to her theory that he was a higher ranking officer, a primary target if things went sour.

Although the people could be any number of things from mercenaries, pirates or insurrectionists, she had to say something, that number of assault rifles would break though even her armour and she still wasn't sure whose side the spectating drones would take.

"Chief Petty Officer Sierra Twenty Three, United Nations Space Command. As to where we are, I don't know, the computer just tells me that we're in a facility somewhere in the galactic east."

"Who are you?" she countered

Adama was surprised at the female voice from the figure. Had had assumed that it would be a robot, or a very heavily armoured man. Deciding to let the relatively calm conversation continue, he responded. However, to his knowledge, only machines used names, serial numbers, of 'Sierra-023'. He was also unfamiliar with the 'United Nations Space Command'. This could be a first contact situation, although no signs of alien life had been encountered in all their years of space travel, granted, they had barely left their home cluster.

"My name is Admiral Adama of the Colonial Fleet and Colonial Remnant. Are you human?" The exchange of questions continued.

"Yes, I am human, I haven't heard of your organisation, what is it?"

"We are escaping from our homeworlds that were attacked, I command our last Battlestar, the Galactica, and am trying to lead us to Earth."

Daisy just about thought that she had the group figured out now. Perhaps refugees from various planets that had been attacked by the covenant, forming a quasi-military and trying to return to the inner worlds. Since the Cole protocol ordered the deletion of all navigational indexes from civilian vessels, their inability to reach Earth was understandable. The UNSC should have guided any refugees back, but mistakes and losses were inevitable in war.

"I haven't heard of your 'United Nations Space Command', what is it?"

And her previous theory was just blown out of the water. Even the most backwater colony rife with insurrectionists would know what the UNSC is. Her next thought was that maybe this was that became of the few ships that never reappeared during the early years of slipspace travel.

"The UNSC is the military arm of the United Earth Government, wh…" her question died on her lips as she noticed the expressions on the faces of the people in front of her.

Adama and the others were shocked beyond belief. They knew they were on the path to Earth, but they certainly hadn't expected to find themselves in actual contact till they got much closer to their destination. This was news beyond words, it would bring the light of hope to a people that was barely holding on. Adama had his own private reasons, unknowing if Earth actually existed when he promised it to the thousands of destitute survivors, knowing that he might be able to keep that promise was a weight off his chest. Not one to get his hopes up early though, Adama needed confirmation.

"Earth, you're really from Earth?"

"I was born on Sargasso actually, but I've been to Earth a few times."

"Sargasso?"

"A colony, medium sized, mostly agricultural but with a few cities."

"How do I know you're telling the truth? This could be an elaborate trick, it wouldn't be beyond the Cylons after New Caprica" Inside though, he doubted this possibility. If the Cylons had somehow known the fleet would be headed to the Algae planet, they would have been met by base stars, raiders and a multitude of nuclear weapons rather than a trick structure. The laser of some sort that the machine had used was too advanced to be the Cylons as well.

"You don't, but I still don't know who you are, I've never heard of any Colonial Fleet, from the name of it, you could be surprisingly well organised and armed insurrectionists." Countered Daisy.

Deciding to take the chance, Adama would take 23's word for her origins, after all, beggars can't be choosers and the Colonial Remnant was on the brink of martial law.

"Then we will have to work on mutual trust. Our people are desperate, we're barely surviving and have been looking for Earth, can you lead us there?"

Whilst it was incredibly unlikely that these people were traitors working for the Covenant and she would personally try to assist any refugees lucky enough to escape the Covenant, doing so in this case would be a blatant breach of the Cole Protocol. Said protocol was one of the main reasons why the alien advance had stalled considerably. It was for the higher ups to make such a decision, not her responsibility nor her right to gamble with the survival of humanity.

"I don't know where we are in comparison to Earth, I just woke up here, in addition to that, the Cole Protocol prevents me from revealing the location of Earth or any of her colonies."

"What? Why, there's only just over thirty thousand of us left, we need to reach Earth, why can't you tell us?"

"As I said, I couldn't tell you as I don't know where we are. The Cole Protocol is in place to prevent the Covenant learning the location of our planets. Billions have died and a couple of dozen thousand people doesn't outweigh the possibility of billions more dying."

Adama, despite the flood of emotions at the thought of finding Earth, was not ignorant of the numbers cited. Billions dying? What could cause such a tragedy. Had the Cylons found Earth, no, 23 had mentioned a Covenant, what was the Covenant? If Earth wasn't safe, where was?

"Billions dying? How could this happen? What is the Covenant?"

Daisy was leaning more and more towards the long lost colony ships idea. No human didn't know of the Covenant, you would have to be a particularly anti-social hermit living under a rock in a nuclear bunker on the edge of known space, to not have heard of the genocidal aliens responsible for the on-going extermination of humanity. With nothing to lose, she might as well play their game, it might be the truth. Answering as clearly as possible:

"We've been at war with a group calling themselves the Covenant, they have advanced plasma weapons and energy shields, we've been fighting a losing battle for years now. The Covenant is a collection of seven, as far as we know, alien races that first attacked the colony Harvest in 2525 with the message "Your destruction is the will of the Gods and we are their instrument". For five years, they've been finding human colonies and bombarding the planet with plasma weapons till the surface melts to silicon, hence, glassing. Well, I suppose it's been longer than that now. The computer here told me that I've been in stasis for 28 years, that would make it 2558 by the UNSC calendar. I… I don't know if Earth is still there. We were losing planets every few months, Earth might have been glassed already."

Daisy was quite ashamed of losing her composure like that, but talking about the possible extinction of humanity and the loss of Earth, that was something that made even Spartans worried.

The Colonials weren't taking the news well either. The idea of striving towards Earth for so long and it being a burnt wasteland when they got there was certainly disheartening. They didn't know what it meant that Earth might have been 'glassed' but from the context it was pretty obvious that it was a bad thing.

"Earth might be gone?"

Both sides remained silent for a minute.

"I need to get back to the UNSC, I can't take you to a planet, but I can take you to within UNSC space, a patrol would probably come across us, from there, a military escort could take you a planet after we're sure the Covenant aren't following. You said there are only thirty thousand of you left, how did that happen?"

"We used to inhabit 12 colonies, we created artificial intelligence to make our lives easier. The CYbernetic Life fOrm NodeS or Cylons were the latest in autonomous soldiers and workers. Until they rebelled, after the initial war, we had a ceasefire. After 40 years, they came back, used a virus to shut down our defences, leaving our ships floating dead, they nuked the colonies. We're all that remains, escaping on whatever Faster Than Light capable ships we could gather."

The story was certainly a sad one, but after the dozens of planets wiped out, she had grown rather used to and impassive to the suffering.

"Sorry for your loss, are you willing to take up my offer and try to get us both back?"

Adama didn't want to let an unknown quantity aboard his ship, with so much to lose, but there was also so much to gain. The chance to find Earth or at least make further contact with their cousins was too great a reward to give up.

"Yes, you may come aboard, we are still unable to return to the surface as we are not sure how we got here."

The computer spoke up again, having remained silent for quite a long time given his cheerful, often inappropriately so, demeanour.

"Ah, I can help with that, I'll have you all at the surface in a flash."

A slight tingling sensation was felt by all of them, before the golden light from before flowed all around them. Daisy's MJOLNIR flickered and glowed as the shields and teleporter made contact. Soon enough they were, as promised, in a different place to the control room. What they did not expect though, was to find themselves in the middle of a grassy field, a veritable Eden, with life growing and all around. One slight problem was that there was a miniature star in the sky above them, and when looking up, they could see the land they were on curve upwards. They were on the inside of a giant, if such a word could describe the vastness of their location, sphere.

* * *

**A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever written and has taken me roughly 3 hours over 3 days. This was one of the easiest to write as I feel the story is flowing a lot more now. Next chapter, we get to see things from the UNSC side and if anyone has played Halo: Wars, they'll recognise a lot of the stuff happening. Oh why Microsoft, why would you make an RTS on a console. Anyway, there may be significant delays between this chapter and the next, thanks for all the reviews, they're really encouraging.**


End file.
